Sebastian Coe Believes Olympic Values Resonate for Today's Youth

Once world-record holder reflects on lessons learned from running.

Published

October 20, 2011

"The values that the Olympic movement has–courage, determination, excellence, respect, friendship–are, for most young people, pretty much metaphors for life," believes Sebastian Coe, the Chairman of the organizing committee for the 2012 London Olympics. Coe hopes the Games can "showcase the London I was born and brought up in" while also displaying "the United Kingdom in a modern setting." Coe was part of the great British middle-distance resurgence of the late 1970s and early '80s. He was a world record-holder for 800 and 1500 meters and for the mile, and he won two Olympic golds in the 1500 and two silvers in the 800. What followed was a career in his nation's Parliament, and at one point there were very short odds on his eventually becoming Prime Minister (that was before the rise of Tony Blair). Now he's Lord Coe, and be assured that his personal prestige and lobbying were the chief reasons why the 2012 Games hosting rights were wrested away from the apparent favorite, Paris (historically, ain't that always the way?).

Coe admits that he sometimes thinks it would have been "exciting" to have competed in an Olympics in his home city, but as often as not, he's grateful to have been racing many time zones away without "quite the same forensic scrutiny" as the UK media would provide.